Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Art and Design

The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)is a thesis-based research degree that leads to advanced academic and theoretical knowledge in a specialist area. The programme enables you to make an original contribution to knowledge or understanding in your field of study and meet recognised international standards for such work.

The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is awarded after the successful completion of concentrated research constituting an original and substantial contribution to knowledge.

You work closely with your supervisor to prepare a thesis, which is examined by independent experts who apply contemporary international standards.

Structure

Stage one
You are admitted provisionally in the first year where you will refine your preliminary proposal into a fully fledged PhD proposal (the PGR9 document). This document critically reviews the significant work done in the area of research. The PGR9 proposal should also contain a suitable research methodology and methods along with a time-frame for completion of the degree that highlights important milestones to be achieved in the next couple of years. Once your PGR9 proposal is completed and approved through the faculty processes, it is submitted to the University Postgraduate Board for full admission approval.

Stage twoOnce you have completed your research proposal, you will typically refine your design, collecting data and conducting your research as appropriate. Results are analysed and may be published through international conferences, journal publications and peer review as this lends further credibility to the research.

Stage three
The first step in the final stage of the PhD is spent finalising the data analysis. Thereafter, the PhD thesis should be written and submitted to the supervisors for feedback. It should be noted that the process of finalising the thesis is time consuming as typically two or even three draft versions need to be produced before the thesis is in a form that is ready for submission and examination.

The School of Art and Design offers PhD either as a full written thesis or as a body of creative work accompanied by a written exegesis.